Subscription based software is currently the only answer. Software that cannot be cracked because it requires a component hosted on remote servers in order to function. When you're dealing with digital content, there is no other way to prevent it from being pirated, other than hosting some vital component of that content on remote servers that have to be accessed with security clearance - that security clearance being your membership to that site. I know a lot of people don't like the idea of having to be connected to the internet in order to access "their" content and software, but it is not "their" content to begin with, and if more people would be willing to participate, they would be helping to actually support their favorite digital content providers - be it content artists or software designers or film/music, etc. So far there is still no software that is 100% piracy proof, but the subscription model has diminished piracy of that software significantly. I don't mind having to be connected to the internet in order to use it. My machine is always on the internet anyway. The only time I mind is when my internet goes out but that is pretty rare, and so far I haven't had a problem with any software not working because the net is out. 

Hard copies are not the answer because hard copies are what were being ripped and pirated before most things went digital to begin with. I love Portishead - one of my favorite bands. But they aren't doing anything new. Artists have been including bonus goodies in their works for years now, as an attempt to get more people to buy their work and dissuade piracy. From limited edition art prints to key chains and calendars and all of it. It hasn't done anything to prevent the core of their work - in this case the music - from being pirated. Even records can be ripped with a midi feed. In the end, all that extra content is just for true collector fans that want to support their favorite artists. The music itself is still being shared on pirate sites among people who don't care about those extra items that come along with the album, or the movie, or whatever media it is that's being distributed. 

People rent apartments or houses their entire lives. Some do it because they can't afford to buy a house outright, but many who can easily afford to buy a house, especially people in big cities, still rent for convenience. They never own the property. They can't do whatever they want with the property. Sometimes they can't even paint the walls whatever color they want. When they die they can't leave it to their relatives. That apartment they've lived in for the last 40 or 50 years just goes back on the market, at whatever the current rates are. There is a trend here in the US of more young people preferring to rent than to buy because they don't want the added burden of property maintenance, even when renting is often more expensive now than a monthly mortgage payment, as is the case in the area I live. When you're renting those things are taken care of for you as part of your rental contract. The grass gets mowed, the plumbing gets fixed, the AC gets cleaned out, all you have to do is buy your groceries mop your floors and pay your monthly bills. Convenience is traded for ownership. Personally I prefer to own my own place and my own transportation. But when it comes to software, which I never own to begin with and am usually limited on how many PCs I can install that license on, I don't mind renting it to use it. Most software cannot be legally transferred when you buy a license. Poser doesn't allow it. Most other software doesn't allow it either. So you're stuck with it, whether you're using it or not. Just more plastic to pollute the environment with. There's plenty of software I've wasted good money on over the years that I never use, some of it I don't even know where it is anymore. Others won't work because it's too outdated and no longer functions on the OS I use. Waste of money. I don't mind renting it. It's a cost saver to me. I don't have to worry about my PC dying one day and having to buy a new license for all the software that's on it because that license has already been used. I just log into a site, deactivate the old machine and activate the new machine and it costs me nothing - other than the cost of a new machine of course. And if I'm making enough money then the cost of that software is deducted every year, so in essence I'm almost getting it for free.  And if a subscription service helps me support actual artists and prevent piracy then I'm all for it. And over time these subscription models will become more accommodating to more people. Just like the internet, 20 years ago when so many people were against it. Today those same people will look at you strange if you don't use it.